Lawson: Don’t judge me on a clap. Judge me on my record.

U.S. Rep. Al Lawson was flying to Washington Monday when President Donald Trump accused Congressional Democrats of being treasonous for not applauding during his State of the Union speech.

Except for Al Lawson.

Trump didn’t know the congressman's name. In fact, he thought he was a man of the cloth when he saw in video clips that Lawson clapped when Trump talked about black unemployment.

"Who was that guy? He was a nice guy. I think he was a reverend. And he was clapping," Trump told a crowd while touting tax cuts during a tour of a Cincinnati factory. "And I wouldn't say it was exactly a rousing — but he was putting his hands together. And I want to find out who he is. I'm going to send him a letter of thank you. And he was probably severely reprimanded."

In an interview with the Tallahassee Democrat, Lawson said no thanks was necessary.

“I wasn’t clapping for Donald Trump. I was clapping for unemployment going down among African Americans,” said Lawson Tuesday morning.

Lawson’s staff briefed him on the President’s remarks when he arrived in Washington. Trump said he expected the first-term congressman to be severely criticized for his public support of the president.

Instead of criticism, Lawson said he’s been hammered by bad jokes. When he arrived at the House, Democrats razzed him about when he’s going for a White House visit. Republicans ribbed him about being the talk of the nation.

While Trump described the clap as not “exactly rousing,” it was loud enough to generate national media attention and be heard back home as it was picked up by Politico Florida. It occurred when Trump said the unemployment rate among blacks was at 6.8 percent – a historic low.

There was criticism from a not-unexpected Democratic source, former Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown, who is challenging Lawson in the Democratic primary. The seat represents a string of rural counties stretching from Jacksonville to Quincy, where the poverty rate is nearly three times the state average of 14 percent.

Brown said Lawson's applause signifies the incumbent’s contentment with those numbers, as well as black unemployment being twice the rate of whites.

“I am committed to fighting for economic security and opportunity for all in our community,” Brown told the Tampa Bay Times.

Lawson was in the camera’s lens because of reports that members of the Congressional Black Caucus were going to walk out during the speech to protest Trump's policies.

”Other members of the Black Caucus and the Democratic Caucus feel the same way about unemployment as I do,” said Lawson. “They were sitting in other areas, but the camera was focused on me.

“Don’t judge me on my clapping. I have a record. I got a long record,” said Lawson who served 28 years in the Florida Legislature and is in his first term in Congress. “Judge me on my record and the votes I have taken.”

Lawson said he doesn't put much credence in criticism and laughs about the attention the Trump shoutout has generated. He said, as of Tuesday, he had received neither the reprimand from other Democrats that Trump predicted nor the thank you letter the president promised.